SI World Golf Rankings: Wyndham Clark Joins the Elite

Clark fended off Rory McIlroy on Sunday at LACC to win the U.S. Open. See how high he climbed in this week's SI World Golf Rankings.

Jeff Ritter | Jun 19, 2023

SI World Golf Rankings: Wyndham Clark Joins the Elite /

Last month in Charlotte, N.C., Wyndham Clark won the Wells Fargo Championship against an elite PGA Tour field and established himself as a player to watch.

Well, were you watching?

Clark showed at the U.S. Open that winning may be contagious, as he hung on for a gritty one-shot victory over Rory McIlroy at Los Angeles Country Club. With the win, Clark soars to new heights in this week’s SI World Golf Rankings, our proprietary, data-driven list of the top men’s players in golf. Clark this week is up 10 spots to No. 6.

Of course, Clark isn’t the only player to make a big move, as an elite field descended on L.A. to play the Open. (Here’s how we do our calculations.)

Here are some notable risers and fallers on the SI World Golf Rankings.

3 Risers in the SI World Golf Rankings

1

Wyndham Clark

This Week: 6

Last Week: 16

Skinny: Played alongside Rickie Fowler in the final pairing on Sunday and demonstrated the grit—and the short game—to lift the trophy. Only two career wins, but they’ve both come in the past six weeks.

2

Rory McIlroy

This Week: 4

Last Week: 7

Skinny: Gave himself plenty of birdie putts on Sunday but didn’t make any after the 1st hole. Will be kicking himself over missed opportunities, but he’s back inside our top 5. On to Hoylake.

3

Rickie Fowler

This Week: 26

Last Week: 41

Skinny: Remember when Fowler barely qualified for the U.S. Open, as he world ranking ticked up just in time throughout the spring? He faded while playing alongside Clark on Sunday, but tied for fifth at LACC. Solidly inside our top 30.

3 Fallers in this week’s SIWGR

1

Matt Fitzpatrick

This Week: 12

Last Week: 8

Skinny: Said he didn’t like LACC but still finished T17. Lost his 2022 win at Brookline from his calculation, as the SIWGR uses only the most recent 12 months of player data.

2

Will Zalatoris

This Week: 36

Last Week: 18

Skinny: Out since spring following back surgery, and the DNPs are starting to weigh down his ranking.

3

Hideki Matsuyama

This Week: 55

Last Week: 43

Skinny: T32 at LACC but faded with a 75 on Sunday.

Published Jun 19, 2023

JEFF RITTER

Jeff Ritter is the managing director of SI Golf. He has more than 20 years of sports media experience, and previously was the general manager at the Morning Read, where he led that business's growth and joined SI as part of an acquisition in 2022. Earlier in his career he spent more than a decade at SI and Golf Magazine, and his journalism awards include a MIN Magazine Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.